Miami Heat President Pat Riley has been selected for the 2012 NBA Coaches Association Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, which commemorates the longtime NBA coach’s life in basketball and his “standard of integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion” of the game. The award will be presented to Riley tonight at 8 p.m. before Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder. From CBSSports.com: “Riley and Daly were rivals as coaches, eventually became close friends and now they’re linked once again. The National Basketball Coaches Association selected Riley as this year’s recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. Riley is the fifth person to receive the award, joining Tommy Heinsohn in 2009, Jack Ramsay and Tex Winter in 2010 and Lenny Wilkens in 2011. ‘This is not an award,’ Riley said. ‘This is something somebody bestows on you. I’m very honored that the coaches association would do this.’ Riley has been part of the NBA for more than 40 years, with 1,210 wins and 21 playoff appearances as a head coach, a slew of charitable undertakings in Miami, Los Angeles and New York — and his team often speaks to how much they enjoy simply being around him.”

The highly-anticipated Dream Team doc aired last night on NBATV (you can watch it online if you missed it), and Isiah Thomas released a classy statement, as his exclusion from the legendary team continues to be a sore point 20 years later. From the Detroit Free Press: “Here’s Thomas’ statement that he posted on the Internet Wednesday night: ‘Today, like all Americans, I congratulate the Dream Team on their anniversary. I am proud of my career in the NBA and have fond memories of going head to head with all the members of the Team. I can’t speak to the selection process as I wasn’t involved. But 20 years later, their gold medal is still a momentous achievement.’ […] ‘I would have had Isiah on the team,’ NBA commissioner David Stern said. ‘He’s one of the great talents, a Hall of Famer, who had two championships and was on the cusp of a third. And he played that position (point guard) in some ways like no one ever played it, or has since. He’s one of our great players.'”

Plenty of hype has been built around the Dream Team doc airing on NBATV tomorrow night (9pm EST), and rightfully so. One of the more under-played aspects of the program to this point, however, is the criticism of Isiah Thomas – who was famously left off the team – by some of the Dream Teamers. Per the NY Post: “In a sneak preview shown at The NBA Finals for media Monday night, Michael Jordan reveals one of the ‘stipulations’ for him joining the Dream Team was having his Pistons rival not included but claimed the sentiment also came from the top. It has been long speculated Jordan kept Thomas off the club but the documentary reveals the snub ran deeper than just MJ. Jordan’s Bulls teammate, Scottie Pippen, also said he didn’t want Thomas on the club. ‘I despised how he played the game,’ Pippen said of Thomas. Pippen charged that Thomas spearheaded Detroit’s ‘Bad Boys’ and incited the rough play. ‘Isiah was the general,’ Pippen said. ‘He was the guy who would yap at his teammates and say ‘Kick them on their ass. Do whatever you have to do.’ No, I didn’t want him on the Dream Team.’ When asked if Jordan wanted Thomas on the 1992 Olympic club at the Barcelona Olympics, Pippen said, ‘I can’t speak for Michael but I don’t think he wanted him on the team.’ Jordan said in his interview that he was reluctant to join the Dream Team because he had a bad first Olympic experience as part of the college group and treasured his offseason. But he came around after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, among others, were all in. ‘That was one of the stipulations put to me that Isiah wasn’t part of the team,’ Jordan said. ‘I was getting strong innuendos it wasn’t just…it was coming from a higher place who didn’t want Isiah on the team.’ Former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Thomas was not considered because of the incident at the end of the recent Bulls-Pistons playoff series in which he had his teammates bolt the court before the final buzzer. It was seen as a lack of sportsmanship. ‘We were picking a group just after the Pistons had been eliminated by the Bulls,’ Granik said. ‘It was very bad timing for Isiah. Everyone had that impression in their mind, the picture of Isiah walking off the court.’ Rod Thorn, part of the Olympic selection committee and who drafted Jordan, said, ‘When the Pistons walked off the court before the final bell, it left a lot of bad taste in a lot of people’s minds.’ NBA TV officials said Monday a strong effort was made to get Thomas to participate in the documentary to give his side but he declined.”

NBA TV will air “The Dream Team” documentary on June 13th at 9pm (EST), and if the first trailer and its accompanying extended version (above) are any indication, this will be awesome and must-watch television.

Paul Silas was recently named interim head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats. So it only makes sense to take a trip down memory lane and park at his interview from SLAM 26. In this feature from 1998, Silas discussed being overlooked for multiple head coaching jobs, and how he attacked the glass during his NBA career.–Ed.

by Alan Paul

Paul Silas was the sort of NBA player who’s easy to overlook. He never scored all that many points, averaging 9.4 for his career. A great defensive player, perennially making first- or second team all-defensive teams, he wasn’t a big shot blocker. He was a tough, physical, in-the-trenches banger, the king od guy who put his chest into his opponent early and often, whose tenacity never let up. The kind of guy you hate to have guarding you. But there’s not a lot of glamour in driving opponents nuts, or in clawing, scratching, positioning–and thinking–yourself into being one of the game’s all-time greatest rebounders. Silas averaged 9.9 rpg for his career, and currently ranks 14th on the all-time list with 12,357.

“He was probably the best offensive rebounding forward of all-time,” recalls Jack Ramsay, who coached against Silas for years and is now and ESPN analyst.

“He was an absolutely incredible offensive rebounder–especially for a guy who really didn’t jump that well. He got great postioning every time, and he was such a tough competitor. He was always around the ball, especially when a game was on the line.”

This knack of Silas’ may be why almost every team he joined throughout a 16-year career saw its record improve. He only missed the playoffs twice–on teams which won 48 and 49 games–and today wears three championship rings, won with the Celtics in ’74 and ’76 and the Sonics in ’79.

“He was a prototypical team guy,” Ramsay recalls. “You have to have players like him to be successful. They may be overlooked by some, but not by coaches. He was a very highly-regarded player by coaches; everyone would have liked to have him.”

So Silas would seem to be the perfect candidate to lead a team. But since coaching the woeful Clippers for three woeful years, ’80-83, he has never gotten a second chance. Instead, he’s been an in demand assistant coach, interviewing for countless head jobs which then go to a newly-retired, no-experience legend; a high-priced college import, or somoe retread who gets one job after another no how many times he gets canned. Once that guy gets the gig, the first call he often makes is to Silas–asking him to join the staff. Go figure. This year, after two seasons under three coaches in Phoenix, Silas is on the bench for the Charlotte Hornets, working with former Celtics teammate Dave Cowens.

SLAM: When you were with the Nets and Chuck Daly left after the ’94 season, a lot of people thought that you were going to be named coach. Did you think the same thing?

SILAS: Yes, I did, actually.

SLAM: And that wasn’t the only job that many thought should have been yours. Is this something that’s hard for you to accept? Is it still a goal of yours to be a head coach?

SILAS: Absolutely it’s still my goal. And yes, it’s hard, because I think I’m very well prepared; I’ve paid my dues and done all the right things to become a head coach. For it not to happen, well, you sometimes start to question what the problem is. But the one thing you can’t do is allow yourself to get bitter. And you definitely can fall into that when you’re passed over and see guys that you know you’re more qualified than get jobs. But that’s just the part of the business, and you have to accept it. The relationships that you form are what help you get where you want to go, and I feel I’ve developed lots of good ones. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s still a goal of mine, and I definitely haven’t given up on it.

SLAM: Do you think your union activism as a player has been held against you?

SILAS: I’m not sure. I’m really just not sure the reason why. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching about it, and I just can’t come up with the answer. I just go with the philosophy that it’s a big circle, everything revolves around, and if you stay in the game, something will happen. I believe that if I stay in and work hard, eventually somebody will see that and believe in me. And that one person is all it takes. I haven’t given up on it, and i just won’t allow myself to get down or become bitter. You have to be int he right place at the right time, and I guess that I just haven’t been there yet. Perhaps it is coming. I’m almost positive that it will, if I stay in. Once you’re out, it’s awful tough to come back.

SLAM: When you look back at your playing career, what makes you most proud?

SILAS: I made a mark doing something that very few people were willing to do, and that’s offensive rebounding. I had to find a way to become successful, and that was my way. I had to find a way to become successful, and that was my way. Now everybody, when they think of Paul Silas and his playing career, says to me, “Boy, you were a heck of a rebounder.” The first thing that came to the minds of the teams that I played against, was, “You gotta keep this guy off the boards.” I made my mark that way, and that’s something that I’m really proud of–as and individual accomplishment.

On a broader level, the championships that I won when I played with the Celtics were really something special, something I am immensely proud to have been a part of.

SLAM: What made those teams so good?

SILAS: I was just talking with Dave Cowens about that: the most glaring thing that stood out when I first came to the Celtics was their intelligence. They were very, very smart players in terms of understanding the game and how they as individuals fit into the whole scheme of the team. Because of that, everything else came pretty easily. Your natural talent comes in, of course, but I think the system and the players’ basketball intelligence were why we were so successful.

And the plays that Red Auerbach instituted were carried over to [coach Tommy] Heinsohn and beyond. Red was such and innovator; he was doing a lot of plays that guys use today–backdoor cuts, double-screens—way back when. And Red was always around, Tommy coached the ballclub, but Red’s presence was a constant.

SLAM: In ’75-76, nobody on the team averaged 20 ppg, but five of you were in double figures.

SILAS: Yeah, that’s the way it was. We didn’t have any one guy who dominated the scoring. Normally, [John] Havlicek would be our leading scorer, but we had JoJo White who was gonna score, Dave [Cowens] was gonna get some points, [Don] Chaney was a double-figure scorer. It really spread around, and because we ran so much, we got easy baskets. We were known as a fast-break team and we could run all day and never tire. We would practice the break for an hour, then scrimmage for an hour. In fact, a guy wrote a book on us after the first year I was there, called Don’t They Ever Stop Running? Well, we didn’t and it was a great way to play basketball. A lot of fun to play, and a lot of fun to watch.

There’s some terribly sad news to kick start the weekend: Former head coach Chuck Daly lost his battle with cancer this morning, and died in Jupiter, Florida.

Daly coached the gritty Detroit Pistons to consecutive NBA championships (’89, ’90), and in 1992, he led the Dream Team to a gold medal in Barcelona. The man is a hoops legend, and the Hall of Fame officially recognized the fact this past March.

He was renowned for his ability to create harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars. “It’s a players’ league. They allow you to coach them or they don’t,” Daly once said. “Once they stop allowing you to coach, you’re on your way out.”

Daly was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA’s first half-century in 1996, two years after being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first coach to win both an NBA title and Olympic gold.

Daly had a career regular-season record of 638-437 in 13 NBA seasons. In 12 playoff appearances, his teams went 75-51. He left Detroit as the Pistons’ leader in regular-season and playoff victories.

“The Daly family and the entire Detroit Pistons and Palace Sports and Entertainment family is mourning the loss of Chuck Daly,” family and team spokesman Matt Dobek said. “Chuck left a lasting impression with everyone he met both personally and professionally and his spirit will live with all of us forever.”

The NBA’s coaching fraternity is dedicating this Playoff season to the legendary Chuck Daly: “The National Basketball Coaches’ Association announced today that it will dedicate the 2009 NBA playoffs to former Pistons coach Chuck Daly. NBA coaches throughout the playoffs will wear a lapel pin emblazoned with the initials ‘CD’ as a show of support for Daly, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February and is currently undergoing treatment…In addition to honoring Daly throughout the 2009 NBA playoffs, the NBCA also announced that it is developing the ‘Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award’ to honor a current or former NBA coach (head coach or assistant).”

Some good thoughts for the legendary coach, who’s battling pancreatic cancer: “This one is for Chuck Daly today. This one is for Chuck Daly because he has always been one of the good guys, even if he did coach that famous Pistons team known as the Bad Boys. This one is for Chuck Daly, who not only knew how to win in basketball but knew how to do it with tremendous style. Who never thought of himself as some kind of genius, or thought he was reinventing his sport when he had the players.”